Testing SpeedwayMedia.com

Tag: SS-Green Light Racing

  • Chastain to make 100th Truck Series career start at Sonoma

    Chastain to make 100th Truck Series career start at Sonoma

    The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series’ return to Sonoma Raceway in 24 years is set to mark the fifth and final scheduled series start of the season for Cup Series competitor Ross Chastain. It is also the site that will mark a milestone start for the two-time Cup winner who currently competes for Trackhouse Racing in NASCAR’s premier series. By competing in this weekend’s event at Sonoma with Niece Motorsports, Chastain will make his 100th career start in the Truck circuit. 

    A native of Alva, Florida, Chastain made his Truck debut at Lucas Oil Raceway in July 2011, where he replaced his future team owner Justin Marks in the No. 66 Chevrolet Silverado for Turn One Racing. By then, he was also making his inaugural presence within NASCAR’s top three national touring series. Starting in 15th place, Chastain notched a 10th-place result in his series debut. He returned to compete at Bristol Motor Speedway, Kentucky Speedway, Texas Motor Speedway and the season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway between August and November, where he finished in the top 30 during the four-race stretch.

    During the following season, Chastain competed as a full-time Truck competitor in the No. 08 Toyota Tundra for SS-Green Light Racing. The highlight of his full-time rookie season was notching his first top-five result in the series by finishing in third place at Bristol in August. To go along with a total of four top-10 results and an average-finishing result of 21.3 during the 22-race schedule, he capped off the season in 17th place in the final standings.

    In 2013, Chastain joined Brad Keselowski Racing as a part-time competitor of the No. 19 Ford F-150 for 14 of 22-scheduled Truck events. He commenced the season by finishing 14th at Daytona followed by a 20th-place result at Martinsville. After finishing no higher than fifth during his next six scheduled starts, Chastain was placed in prime position of notching his first Truck victory at Iowa Speedway in September. Despite starting on pole position and leading a race-high 116 of 212 laps, he was overtaken by the reigning series champion James Buescher during two green-white-checkered restarts and settled in a career-best second place. Four races later at Phoenix in November, Chastain led 63 of 150 laps until he was overtaken and beaten by newcomer Erik Jones during a 10-lap shootout to the finish. Finishing in second place for the second time of the season, Chastain capped off the season with an eighth-place result at Homestead along with his first two career poles, four top-five results, seven top-10 results and an average-finishing result of 10.0 in 14 starts.

    After departing Brad Keselowski Racing at the conclusion of the 2013 season, Chastain competed the first two Truck events of 2014 with RBR Enterprises. He finished 30th during the season-opening event at Daytona after being involved in a late multi-truck wreck and rallied to finish 14th at Martinsville during the following event. Chastain returned for the season finale event at Homestead, where he piloted the No. 35 Win-Tron Racing Toyota Tundra to an 11th-place result.

    After failing to qualify for a single Truck event in 2015 and making just a single start at Talladega with Bolen Motorsports in 2016, Chastain campaigned in seven of the first 10 scheduled Truck events with Bolen. During the stretch, his season-best results were a 10th-place result at Atlanta Motor Speedway in February followed by a seventh-place result at Martinsville in March. He would then compete in a total of seven Truck events in 2018 between Beaver Motorsports, Premium Motorsports and Niece Motorsports. During his part-time season in 2018, his best result was a seventh-place finish at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in September.

    Despite having a full-time Xfinity Series ride with Chip Ganassi Racing fall apart due to sponsorship woes, the 2019 season produced a hefty schedule for Chastain, who campaigned in nearly all events between all three national touring series. Entering the season as a full-time Cup Series competitor for Premium Motorsports and as a part-time Xfinity competitor between JD Motorsports and Kaulig Racing, Chastain initially commenced the season as a part-time Truck competitor for Niece Motorsports. After finishing in the top 10 during the first six scheduled events, he notched his first Truck career victory at Kansas Speedway in May after overtaking Stewart Friesen, who ran out of fuel, under the final two laps. Chastain’s first win in the Truck circuit also marked the first victory in NASCAR for Niece Motorsports. A month later, he elected to compete for the Truck Series title as a full-time competitor for Niece Motorsports. 

    Commencing his late season charge for the 2019 Truck title, Chastain notched what would have been his second victory of the season at Iowa Speedway in June. The victory, however, was short-lived due to his truck failing post-race inspection, which prompted NASCAR to strip him of the victory as part of the sport’s new disqualification policy and demote him to last place of the 32-truck field. Despite the disqualification, Chastain and Niece Motorsports responded back with vengeance during the following event at Gateway’s World Wide Technology Raceway by utilizing a fuel only pit stop to win and notch a second victory of the season along with a $50,000 bonus as part of the series’ newly formed Triple Truck Challenge. The Gateway victory along with his third victory of the season and of his career at Pocono Raceway in July were enough for Chastain and Niece Motorsports to qualify for the 2019 Truck Playoffs. 

    At the start of the 2019 Truck Playoffs, Chastain finished no lower than eighth during the Round of 8 to advance to the Round of 6. Despite being involved in a late multi-truck wreck at Talladega Superspeedway in October, he earned back-to-back top-10 results during the following two events to earn a spot in the Championship 4 round and contend for the 2019 Truck title at Homestead in November. During the finale, however, Chastain finished in fourth place on the track and in the runner-up spot in the final championship standings behind Matt Crafton. To go along with a runner-up result in the final standings while achieving his first three carer victories in the series, Chastain capped off the 2019 Truck season with a pole, 10 top-five results, 19 top-10 results, 591 laps led and an average-finishing result of 8.6.

    As Chastain moved up to compete for the 2020 Xfinity Series championship for Kaulig Racing, he also returned on a part-time basis in the Truck circuit for Niece Motorsports. He competed in eight of the first nine scheduled events amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, where his best result was a third-place effort at Homestead in June. His final start of the season occurred at Bristol in August, where he finished eighth. By then, he accumulated six top-10 results in nine starts of the season.

    In 2021, Chastain, who became a full-time Cup competitor for Chip Ganassi Racing, returned to compete in four Truck events for Niece Motorsports. His first start of the season occurred at Atlanta Motor Speedway in March, where he finished seventh, followed by Kansas in May, where he earned a runner-up result behind Kyle Busch. At Texas in June, Chastain initially finished third, but he was later disqualified and demoted to last place of the 36-truck field due to his truck failing post-race inspection pertaining to a throttle body. His final start of the season occurred at Nashville Superspeedway in June, where he finished 22nd.

    This season, Chastain, who is a full-time Cup competitor for Trackhouse Racing, made his first Truck start of the season with Niece Motorsports at Atlanta in June, where he finished 23rd following multiple flat tire issues. After finishing 26th and 12th at Darlington Raceway and at Texas Motor Speedway, respectively, Chastain benefitted through two overtime attempts and a late incident involving teammate Carson Hocevar and Ryan Preece to notch his fourth Truck Series career victory at Charlotte Motor Speedway in May.

    Through 99 previous Truck starts, Chastain has recorded four victories, three poles, 18 top-five results, 43 top-10 results, 913 laps led and an average-finishing result of 14.7 as he pursues his first NASCAR national touring series victory at Sonoma Raceway.

    Chastain is scheduled to make his 100th Camping World Truck Series career start at Sonoma Raceway on Saturday, June 11, with the event’s coverage to occur at 7:30 p.m. ET on FS1.

  • Custer grabs a dominant Xfinity win at Fontana

    Custer grabs a dominant Xfinity win at Fontana

    Cole Custer rallied from two slow pit stops and through three overtime restarts to score a dominant win in the Production Alliance 300 at Auto Club Speedway on Saturday, February 26.

    The 24-year-old native from Ladera Ranch, California, led five times for a race-high 80 of 165 laps to beat Noah Gragson by half a second in his first of select NASCAR Xfinity Series starts this season with SS-Green Light Racing, which achieved their first career victory in NASCAR.

    Qualifying on Saturday determined the starting lineup for the event. AJ Allmendinger, coming off his runner-up result at Daytona International Speedway, started on pole position after posting a pole-winning lap at 179.829 mph. He was joined on the front row with Cole Custer, who qualified with a fast lap at 179.793 mph.

    Prior to the event, Jeffrey Earnhardt, Jeb Burton, Jesse Iwuji, Joey Gase, Tommy Joe Martins and Josh Williams dropped to the rear for unapproved adjustments. Kyle Sieg also dropped to the rear of the field due to an engine change along with Joe Graf Jr. due to a driver change after he replaced Timmy Hill.

    When the green flag waved and the race commenced, Allmendinger and Custer battled dead even ahead of the field before the former cleared the latter through the backstretch and went on to lead the first lap. 

    During the following lap, Allmendinger continued to fend off early challenges from Custer to retain the top spot. Behind, Austin Hill, coming off his first Xfinity career victory at Daytona, made an unscheduled pit stop after sustaining right-side damage to his No. 21 Bennett Transportation and Logistics Chevrolet Camaro due to contact with Josh Berry through the backstretch. 

    By the fifth lap, Allmendinger and Custer continued to battle for the lead followed by Trevor Bayne, Noah Gragson and Brandon Jones. Ryan Sieg was in sixth ahead of Daniel Hemric, Ty Gibbs, Josh Berry and Justin Allgaier. 

    A lap later, the first caution flew when flames erupted out of the No. 10 Carnomoly Chevrolet Camaro piloted by Landon Cassill, who was running in 11th place. Cassill, though, was able to park his car below the apron in Turn 1 as he exited his flaming car. 

    Following an extensive cleanup, the race restarted on Lap 13. During the following lap, Trevor Bayne, making his first of select starts in Joe Gibbs Racing’s No. 18 Devotion Nutrition Toyota Supra, flexed his muscles as he moved into the lead followed by Allmendinger, Custer and the field.

    On Lap 19, the caution returned when Mason Massey cut a left-front tire and shredded debris in Turn 2.

    When the race restarted on Lap 24 and as the field fanned out, Noah Gragson peaked ahead with the lead followed by Bayne, Custer and the field. When the field returned to the frontstretch, however, Bayne retained the lead followed by Custer, Gragson, Gibbs and Allmendinger.

    By Lap 30, Bayne was leading by a tenth of a second over Custer. Gragson was in third followed by teammate Justin Allgaier and Gibbs while Allmendinger, Hemric, Berry, Sieg and Sam Mayer were in the top 10.

    In the closing laps of the first stage, Custer started to close in and challenge Bayne for the top spot while Gragson was trailing by more than two seconds. 

    When the first stage concluded on Lap 35, Bayne, making his first start in NASCAR in two years, claimed his first career stage victory. Custer settled in second while Allgaier overtook teammate Gragson in Turn 3 after Gragson scraped the wall to settle in third. Gibbs, Allmendinger, Berry, Sieg, Hemric and Mayer rounded out the top 10.

    Under the stage break, the field pitted and Hemric utilized the first pit box to his advantage to move into the lead. Gibbs followed in second along with Gragson, Berry, Allgaier and Custer while Bayne dropped to 10th following a slow pit stop. During the pit stop, Ryan Sieg missed his pit box and had to return to pit road for service.

    The second stage started on Lap 42 as Hemric and Gibbs occupied the front row. At the start, Gibbs challenged Hemric for the top spot through the backstretch while Gragson, Custer and Allgaier battled ahead of the field that was fanning out. Then in Turn 4, Gibbs, who battled dead even with Hemric, bumped against Hemric’s No. 11 Poppy Bank Chevrolet Camaro before he spun wildly across the frontstretch and through the infield grass, all while sustaining no significant damage to his No. 54 Monster Energy Toyota Supra.

    On Lap 48, the race restarted under green as Hemric and Gragson occupied the front row. At the start, Hemric retained the top spot until Custer stormed back to the lead during the following lap. With Hemric back in second, Gragson challenged for second ahead of Brandon Jones, Allgaier and Berry.

    By Lap 50, Custer was leading by a second ahead of Gragson while Hemric, Brandon Jones and Allgaier were in the top five. Allmendinger was in sixth ahead of Berry, rookie Sheldon Creed, Riley Herbst and Sam Mayer. Behind, Bayley Curry pitted under green after sustaining a flat right-rear tire.

    Five laps later, Custer stabilized his advantage to more than a second over Gragson while third-place Allgaier trailed by more than three seconds. 

    Another lap later, Brandon Jones, who was running in sixth place, spun his No. 19 Menards Toyota Supra in Turn 4.

    When the field restarted under green on Lap 60, the field battled through two lanes entering the first turn before fanning out to multiple lanes entering the backstretch. In the midst of the battles, Custer retained the lead and Gragson was in second ahead of teammate Allgaier, Allmendinger, Hemric, Berry and Mayer.

    Five laps later, Custer remained as the leader by a second and a half over Allgaier while Gragson, Allmendinger and Hemric were in the top five. 

    When the second stage concluded on Lap 70, Custer claimed his 17th career stage victory. Meanwhile, Brandon Jones, who made a late charge on fresh tires following his spin, settled in second followed by Allgaier, Gragson, Gibbs, Hemric, Allmendinger, Mayer, Berry and Riley Herbst.

    Under the stage break, the leaders returned to pit road and Brandon Jones exited with the lead followed by Allgaier, Gragson, Berry and Hemric while Custer, who endured a slow pit stop, dropped to eighth.

    With 74 laps remaining, the final stage started under green. At the start, Jones powered ahead with a brief advantage on the outside lane as the field fanned out entering the first two turns. When the field returned to the frontstretch, Custer, who restarted eighth, used a fast race car to his advantage by barreling his way back to the lead as Gragson challenged Brandon Jones for the runner-up spot.

    With less than 70 laps remaining, Allmendinger pitted under green to address a potential loose wheel to his No. 16 Nutrien Ag Solutions Chevrolet Camaro as he lost a lap to the leaders.

    Back on the track, Custer was leading by more than a second over Gragson. Brandon Jones was in third, trailing by more than two seconds, while Allgaier was in fourth. Meanwhile, Gibbs, who rallied from his early spin, was in fifth ahead of Hemric, Trevor Bayne, Berry, Mayer and Creed.

    Ten laps later, Custer extended his advantage to more than two seconds over Gragson while Allgaier, Brandon Jones and Gibbs were in the top five. Behind was Hemric, who had Berry, Bayne, Creed and Mayer battling behind him.

    Another 10 laps later, Custer’s advantage narrowed to less than two seconds as he continued to lead ahead of Gragson while Allgaier, Jones and Hemric were in the top five. Gibbs, Berry, Bayne, Creed and Herbst were scored in the top 10.

    With 48 laps remaining, Brandon Brown spun in Turn 2 as he drew the caution. Under caution, the field pitted and Justin Allgaier exited with the top spot followed by Jones, Gragson, Berry and Herbst. Meanwhile, Custer, who endured another slow pit stop, fell back to seventh.

    With 42 laps remaining, the race restarted under green. At the start, Allgaier retained the top spot through the first two turns as the field jostled for positions. Not long after, Gragson muscled to the lead while Allgaier was back in second ahead of Berry and a hard-charging Custer.

    Down to the final 35 laps of the event, JR Motorsports’ competitors occupied four of the top-five spots as Gragson was leading by more than a second over teammate Berry while teammate Allgaier trailed by more than two seconds. Custer was back in fourth while Mayer, the fourth JRM competitor, was in fifth.

    Then with 27 laps remaining, the caution flew when Jade Buford wrecked in Turn 2 after getting loose before being hit by Creed. Under caution, some led by Gragson pitted while Gibbs and Anthony Alfredo remained on the track. During the pit stops, Gragson slid through his pit box and ran over his air hose as he exited pit road out of the top 10 while Allgaier was the first competitor on fresh tires and fuel to exit pit road.

    With 22 laps remaining, the race restarted under green. At the start and with the field fanning out to multiple lanes, Allgaier reassumed the lead through Turn 1 while Bayne moved into second along with Berry.

    During the following lap, a five-car battle for the lead ensued as Allgaier led ahead of Bayne, Gragson, Berry and Custer. Soon after, Gragson muscled his way back to the lead. Not long after, Custer moved into second. By then, Myatt Snider fell off the pace after he lost an engine to his car.

    Back on the track, Gragson continued to lead, but he had Custer narrowing the advantage to less than three-tenths of a second. 

    Then with 15 laps remaining, Custer stormed back to the lead beneath Gragson.

    Just then, the caution flew with 10 laps remaining due to debris in Turn 1 as Mason Massey lost a left-front tire. At the time of caution, Custer had extended his advantage to more than a second over Gragson, more than two seconds over Josh Berry, more than three seconds over Bayne and more than four seconds over Allgaier.

    With six laps remaining, the race restarted under green. At the start, Gragson mounted a brief challenge on Custer before the latter cleared the field through the backstretch. Behind, Bayne challenged Gragson for the runner-up spot as Custer started to pull away.

    During the following lap, the caution returned due to an incident involving Creed and Brett Moffitt in Turn 1.

    With the field set to overtime, Custer and Gragson occupied the front row as the race resumed to green flag conditions. At the start, Custer, who spun the tires, managed to retain the lead ahead of Bayne and Gragson as the field fanned out to multiple lanes. Then in Turn 1, Hemric made contact with Brandon Jones as Jones spun across the track and dodged by the oncoming field. The incident, however, sent the race into another overtime attempt.

    At the start of the second overtime attempt, Custer received a strong start to retain the lead as the field fanned out. Then entering Turn 4, a multi-car wreck struck that involved Creed, Stefan Parsons and Brandon Jones, who spun down to the infield and collided against the sand barriers near the pit road entrance, which destroyed the barriers in a sandstorm. The incident occurred before Custer could start the final lap of the event as the race was sent into third overtime attempt.

    Prior to the overtime attempt, the red flag was displayed for 23 minutes for repairs towards the pit road entrance. When the red flag was lifted and the third overtime attempt commenced under green, Custer received another strong start to retain the lead while Gragson and Bayne moved up to second and third followed by Alfredo, who restarted on the front row. 

    When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Custer was leading by nearly four-tenths of a second over Gragson and the field. With a fast race car, Custer was able to circumnavigate his way around the circuit for a final time and cycle back to the finish line to grab the victory.

    With the victory, Custer claimed his 10th Xfinity Series career win in his 106th series start, his second at Fontana and his first since winning at Dover Motor Speedway in September 2019.

    “Man, it was just an awesome car,” Custer said on FS1. “That [car] was just a rocket ship all day. I can’t thank [owner] Bobby Dotter enough, everybody who was involved on this car. It was just unreal how fast we were. Production Alliance Group, this is awesome, it’s [Dotter’s] race. It’s the Production Alliance Group 300 and we got him to Victory Lane. It’s awesome to win at home, so [I] can’t wait for tomorrow. ”

    Gragson settled in second place while Bayne notched a strong third-place result in his first Xfinity start in six years. 

    “We had the lead there and then came down pit road, slid through the pit box and then, had a really good restart from 11th, got back up to the lead in like a lap or two,” Gragson said. “I felt like the Bass Pro Shops Camaro was really close all day. Just struggled with the cloud cover and the temperature change, being too loose or too tight. Hats off to all the guys on the No. 07 car and Cole Custer. He was really fast today. We finished third last weekend, finished second here this weekend. Hopefully, [we] got some good points. This is not one of my good tracks, so I’ll take a second-place finish…Came up short today, but hey, top threes through the start of two races this season, I’ll take it.

    Josh Berry grabbed his first top-five result of the season by finishing fourth and Anthony Alfredo made the late decision to remain on old tires work to perfection as he finished in fifth place.

    Mayer, Allmendinger, Allgaier, Herbst and Ryan Sieg finished in the top 10.

    There were 19 lead changes for eight different leaders. The race featured 12 cautions for 58 laps.

    After rallying for a top-10 result, Allmendinger continues to lead the regular-season standings by a single point over Gragson, three over Allgaier and 19 over Herbst, Ryan Sieg and Gibbs.

    Results.

    1. Cole Custer, 80 laps led, Stage 2 winner

    2. Noah Gragson, 25 laps led

    3. Trevor Bayne, 24 laps led, Stage 1 winner

    4. Josh Berry

    5. Anthony Alfredo

    6. Sam Mayer

    7. AJ Allmendinger, 13 laps led

    8. Justin Allgaier, seven laps led

    9. Riley Herbst

    10. Ryan Sieg

    11. Brandon Brown

    12. Daniel Hemric, 10 laps led

    13. Ty Gibbs, three laps led

    14. Jeb Burton

    15. Joe Graf Jr.

    16. Kyle Weatherman

    17. Jeremy Clements

    18. Kyle Sieg

    19. Brett Moffitt

    20. Joey Gase

    21. Josh Williams

    22. JJ Yeley

    23. Matt Mills

    24. Alex Labbe

    25. Kaz Grala, two laps down

    26. Myatt Snider, two laps down

    27. Austin Hill, three laps down

    28. Mason Massey, three laps down

    29. Jeffrey Earnhardt, four laps down

    30. Stefan Parsons – OUT, Accident

    31. Tommy Joe Martins, seven laps down

    32. Sheldon Creed – OUT, Accident

    33. Brandon Jones – OUT, Accident, three laps led

    34. Bayley Currey, 11 laps down

    35. Ryan Vargas – OUT, Accident

    36. Jesse Iwuji, 34 laps down

    37. Jade Buford – OUT, Accident

    38. Landon Cassill – OUT, Engine

    The 2022 NASCAR Xfinity Series season proceeds with its second of a three-race West Coast swing at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, which will occur on Saturday, March 5, at 4:30 p.m. ET on FS1.

  • Chastain to reach 350 starts across NASCAR at Darlington

    Chastain to reach 350 starts across NASCAR at Darlington

    A significant milestone is in the making for Ross Chastain, a full-time NASCAR Xfinity Series competitor for Kaulig Racing and part-time competitor in the NASCAR Cup and Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series. By the time Chastain completes this weekend’s Xfinity and Cup doubleheader events at Darlington Raceway, he will achieve 350 starts across NASCAR’s three major division series (Truck, Xfinity and Cup Series).

    A native of Alva, Florida, who grew up as a watermelon farmer for his family’s farm and started racing after watching his father hobby racing, Chastain started his career by winning in late models and Fastruck Series races. His first start within NASCAR’s three major division series occurred at Lucas Oil Raceway in July 2011, where he drove the No. 66 Chevrolet Silverado for Turn One Racing in the NASCAR Truck Series. Starting 15th, Chastain finished 10th in his series debut. He went on to compete in four additional Truck races with Turn One Racing.

    In 2012, Chastain was named a full-time competitor of the No. 08 Toyota Tundra for SS-Green Light Racing as he entered the Truck Series as a Rookie-of-the-Year contender. Throughout the 22-race season, Chastain achieved four top-10 results, a career-best third-place run at Bristol Motor Speedway in August and he concluded the season in 17th place in the final standings. He made one start in the No. 07 Chevrolet Silverado for SS-Green Light Racing at Phoenix, where he finished 33rd.

    The following season, Chastain competed in 14 Truck races with Brad Keselowski Racing and in the No. 19 Ford F-150 led by Chad Kendrick. His first start with the team was at Daytona International Speedway in February, where he finished 14th. He went on to finish 20th at Martinsville Speedway in April and ninth at Charlotte Motor Speedway in May. He achieved his first top-five result of the season at Pocono Raceway in August. Two races later at Iowa Speedway, Chastain was dominant as he started on pole position and led a race-high 116 of 212 laps, only to be overtaken by James Buescher on a late restart and settle in a career-best second place. He went on to finish third at Talladega Superspeedway in October and second at Phoenix in November following a late battle with eventual winner Erik Jones. He finished in eighth place in the season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway and capped off his 14-race stint at BKR with four top-five results, seven top-10 results and his first two career poles.

    In 2014, Chastain competed in his first seven NASCAR Xfinity Series races along with three Truck Series races. He competed between Viva Motorsports, Hattori Racing Enterprises and TriStar Motorsports in the Xfinity circuit, with his best result being 10th place at Kentucky Speedway in September. He competed between RBR Enterprises and Win-Tron Racing in the Truck Series, with his best result being 11th place at Homestead in November.

    For the 2015 season, Chastain was named a full-time competitor for JD Motorsports in the Xfinity Series. Making 31 starts in JDM’s No. 4 Chevrolet Camaro and two in JDM’s No. 01 Chevrolet Camaro, Chastain achieved four top-10 results and a career-best result of ninth place at Daytona in February. He concluded the season in 15th place in the final standings.

    Between 2016 and 2017, Chastain continued to drive for JD Motorsports and the No. 4 Chevrolet on a full-time basis in the Xfinity Series. Following the 2016 season, he surpassed 100 starts across NASCAR’s three major division series. He finished 15th in the final standings in 2016 and 16th in 2017. Between June and July 2017, Chastain achieved back-to-back top-10 results, which included a career-best fourth-place result at Iowa Speedway. He also made a total of eight starts in the Truck Series with Bolen Motorsports, where his best result was seventh place at Martinsville Speedway in April. In addition, he made his first two NASCAR Cup Series career starts in both Dover International Speedway races while driving for Premium Motorsports. He finished 20th in his debut at the Monster Mile in June and 38th in his second start in October.

    The 2018 season was an eventful season for Chastain, who made 34 starts in the Cup Series, 33 starts in the Xfinity Series and seven starts in the Truck Series. In the Truck circuit, he made a total of seven starts between Beaver Motorsports, Premium Motorsports and Niece Motorsports. His best result was seventh place at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in September. In the Cup circuit, he competed in 34 of 36 races with Premium Motorsports. His best results were an 18th-place result at Texas Motor Speedway in April and a 20th-place result at Las Vegas in September.

    For the first 23 Xfinity Series of the season, Chastain recorded one top-five result and six top-10 results, all while during his fourth season with JD Motorsports. Then, in September, Chastain made his first of three starts in the No. 42 DC Solar Chevrolet Camaro for Chip Ganassi Racing led by crew chief Mike Shiplett at Darlington Raceway. During the main event, Chastain started on pole position for the first time in his career, led a race-high 90 laps and won the first two stages. His strong run, however, was spoiled following a late on-track incident with Kevin Harvick as Chastain ended his race in 25th place. Competing the following race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway for JD Motorsports, Chastain returned to the No. 42 team at Las Vegas in September seeking redemption. During the main event, Chastain dominated again as he won the first two stages and led a race-high 180 laps. This time, Chastain sealed the deal after beating Justin Allgaier to achieve his first career win across NASCAR’s three major division series. His first Xfinity career win, which occurred in his 132nd series start and also occurred in the regular-season finale at Vegas, was enough for the Floridian to secure a spot in the 2018 Xfinity Playoffs as he introduced his celebratory trademark by smashing a watermelon.

    During his first run in the Xfinity Playoffs, Chastain went on to finish in second place at Richmond in September, which also marked his final start with Chip Ganassi Racing. Returning to JD Motorsports, he finished 12th at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval and 13th at Dover. When the dust settled, Chastain was beaten by Matt Tifft for the final transfer spot to the Round of 8 by three points. He went on to conclude the season in a career-best 10th place in the final standings as he also achieved a career-high three top-five results, eight top-10 results and 272 laps led. Following the 2018 season, he surpassed 200 career starts across NASCAR.

    In November 2018, it was announced that Chastain would compete in the No. 42 DC Solar Chevrolet Camaro for Chip Ganassi Racing on a full-time basis for the 2019 Xfinity Series season. The announcement came a month after Chastain revealed plans to compete in the Cup Series for Premium Motorsports. However, the team ceased operations in January when DC Solar was raided by the FBI. Fortunately, Chastain was picked up by Niece Motorsports to compete in the Truck Series on a part-time basis led by crew chief Phil Gould and by JD Motorsports for 30 Xfinity races. In addition, he signed a three-race deal to pilot the No. 10 Nutrien Ag Solutions Chevrolet Camaro for Kaulig Racing.

    Competing in all three series’ openers at Daytona International Speedway, Chastain finished third in the Truck Series with Niece Motorsports, 13th in the Xfinity Series with Kaulig Racing after winning the second stage and 10th in his first Daytona 500 start with Premium Motorsports. Through the beginning of June, Chastain competed in the first 12 Xfinity races and recorded a best result of seventh place at Las Vegas in March. He also competed in the first eight Truck races with Niece Motorsports, achieving top-10 results in all of his starts and collecting his first Truck career win at Kansas Speedway in May following a late pass on Stewart Friesen. To cap off his eventful start to this season, he competed in the first 14 Cup races with Premium Motorsports.

    On June 4, Chastain declared himself a full-time Truck Series competitor to contend for points and the series title with Niece Motorsports. In order to achieve his goal of making the Playoffs, he would have to win again throughout the regular-season stretch and be scored inside the top 20 in the standings. After finishing in 10th place at Texas Motor Speedway following his announcement, Chastain achieved his second victory of the season at Iowa Speedway following a dominating performance. Following the race, however, Chastain was disqualified due to his truck failing post-race technical inspection and NASCAR awarded the win to runner-up finisher Brett Moffitt. Chastain’s disqualification from winning was a first in NASCAR since Emanuel Zervakis was disqualified from winning at North Carolina’s Wilson Speedway in April 1960 due to an oversized fuel tank.

    Chastain rebounded the following race with vengeance after scoring a late win at Gateway’s World Wide Technology Raceway and collecting a $50,000 for winning a Triple Truck Challenge race. This time, Chastain’s win at Gateway was ruled official. After finishing seventh at Chicagoland Speedway and fourth at Kentucky Speedway the following two races, Chastain made himself Playoff eligible after moving into the top 20 in the standings. The following race, he achieved his third victory of his career/season at Pocono Raceway and he entered the postseason as a title favorite. During the Playoffs, Chastain achieved three top-five results and five top-10 results as he made the Championship Round at Homestead-Miami Speedway. During the finale, however, he finished fourth at Homestead and fell short of his first NASCAR championship to Matt Crafton. Despite the final outcome, he logged in a successful season in the Truck circuit, where he recorded three wins, a pole, 10 top-five results, 19 top-10 results, an average result of 8.6 and 591 laps led before concluding the season in a career-best second place. In the end, he was named the 2019 Truck Most Popular Driver.

    Chastain’s on-track success in 2019 did not only come from the Truck Series. At Daytona in July, while piloting Kaulig Racing’s No. 16 Ellsworth Advisors Chevrolet Camaro, Chastain led a 1-2-3 finish for the team across the line as he achieved his first victory at Daytona, second of his Xfinity career and the first NASCAR win for Kaulig Racing. Despite teammate A.J. Allmendinger being disqualified from third place for failing post-race technical inspection, Chastain’s victory and teammate Justin Haley’s runner-up result were deemed official by NASCAR. He made a total of seven additional Xfinity starts since June, where he also finished in second place at Texas in November behind Christopher Bell while driving for Kaulig. Overall, he capped off the 2019 Xfinity season with a win, a pole, two top-five results and eight top-10 results between JD Motorsports and Kaulig Racing.

    On the Cup side, Chastain made 35 starts in the No. 15 Chevrolet for Premium Motorsports. His best results were a 10th-place result at the Daytona 500 in February and a 12th-place result at Talladega Superspeedway in October.

    In total, Chastain made 77 starts across NASCAR’s three major division series in 2019. Early into the season, he broke Kyle Busch’s record in competing in the most consecutive races across all three series to start a season. Following the 2019 season, he surpassed 300 career starts across NASCAR.

    Three months after winning at Daytona, Chastain was named a full-time competitor of the No. 10 Nutrien Ag Solutions Chevrolet Camaro for Kaulig Racing led by crew chief Bruce Schlicker for the 2020 Xfinity Series season. Prior to the 2020 season, he also planned to compete in select Truck Series races with Niece Motorsports and in the No. 77 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE sponsored by AdventHealth in the Cup Series for the Daytona 500 and the Coca-Cola 600. His No. 77 ride was under a partnership between Spire Motorsports and Chip Ganassi Racing.

    Chastain started the 2020 season by finishing in eighth place in the Truck opener at Daytona with Niece Motorsports. For the Xfinity opener, however, he initially failed to qualify for the event, along with teammate A.J. Allmendinger, due to mechanical issues. Nonetheless, he was able to compete when veteran Jeff Green relinquished his seat at RSS Racing. Chastain went on to finish 22nd in the Xfinity opener. For the Daytona 500, he made a late charge to the front until he was involved in a multi-car accident and settled in 25th place.

    Through September 2, Chastain has made eight starts in the Truck Series with Niece Motorsports and has recorded one top-five result and five top-10 results. He has also made seven Cup starts between Spire Motorsports and Roush Fenway Racing, where he served as an interim competitor for the injured Ryan Newman. His best results in the series include a 16th-place run at Daytona in August and a pair of 17th-place results at Auto Club Speedway in March and at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in July.

    Through the first 22 Xfinity Series races of this season and as a full-time competitor, Chastain has recorded one stage win, two Dash 4 Cash $100,000 bonuses, nine top-five results and 19 top-10 results. He is currently in third place in the Xfinity regular-season standings and is 420 points above the top-12 cutline to make the Playoffs and with four regular-season races remaining. Thus far, his average result is 8.8.

    While Chastain is set to compete in this weekend’s Xfinity and Cup races at Darlington, he will also be sporting a special white, red, blue and gold paint scheme to his No. 77 Spire Motorsports/Dirty Mo Media Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE on the Cup side while paying tribute to the late NASCAR Hall of Famer Dale Earnhardt and his 1976 Hy-Gain Chevy.

    Catch Chastain’s milestone start on Sunday, September 6, at Darlington Raceway for the Cook Out Southern 500, which will occur at 6 p.m. ET on NBCSN.